Single Review: Tallest Walls

Christchurch indie-pop duo The Response have launched their latest single; a 3-minute 40-second slice of crisp, catchy, saccharine-sweet, electro-pop. Tallest Walls is a subtle ear-worm of a song, it grows from slender, minimalistic beginnings into a big, hook-laden chorus that will have your head bobbing, and foot tapping. Throughout, silky smooth vocals add emotional hooks to the track and drive it along.

Lyrics such as “I’m stuck up here above the clouds, I know in time I’ll be shot down, I fly too high my feathers melt, but while it lasts there’s nothing else” are a wonderful allusion to the myth of Icarus, a cautionary tale of ‘flying too high’. However, the feel of the track, quality of song-writing, vocal delivery, and overall production quality deliver a feel-good track and vibe. It is this mix of up-beat and overcoming/facing challenges that makes this track so compelling.

The production is slick, yet not overproduced. The vocals are nicely positioned in the mix, not overbearing like so much modern pop, and the distorted bass brings in a much-appreciated grittiness to the track, again being a nice contrast between the crisp clean keyboards, guitars, etc of the verses. For a self-recorded, self-engineered, self-produced, etc. release, the duo of Andy and Victoria Knopp nail it. This is a great track, it sounds great, and the visuals on the associated video are very cool!

As the lead single from a forthcoming album entitled Escaping this Cold Rotation, this sets the bar for that album high. I excitedly look forward to hearing the full-length record, and hearing what this very talented duo have up their sleeves.